To The Moon ALice!

What an interesting day... again.. this has turned out to be..
Last night I had to take myself to bed early- drugged up on some benadryl in hopes to give myself SOME relief with allergies... I woke up this morning with crusty eyes and runny nose ( i sound pretty huh). Unfortunately my allergy hell did not get better and now I am worried if someone can overdose on eye drops.

Well because of the annoyance of itchy eyes, scratchy throat and runny nose, I wasn't a very peachy momma/ wife today. My SIL offered to take a kiddo to the store with her- which was such a great treat for me... so I decided to take that moment and get a shower without any interruptions. It's not often I am able to walk into my bathroom without company- so this was like my treat!

I undress and turn on the water and to my butt-naked surprise.. our water is off.....AGAIN. It hasn't even been a full month when we went thru this again. There is a very long story that goes with this, but I will hold all the details, but basically we pay water to a private "water company" a.k.a Nasty little man and he is upset with us... for no reason- yes, honestly, for no reason and has decided to play this power pull by turning off our water ONCE again.
I feel so HORRIBLE for my husband who has to deal with this creature. We have had water with him for 6 years and have always paid on time- every month....

I just don't get how a person would think it was a great idea to turn off water to a house that has 4 kids and a pregnant (hormonal) woman. But he just does not care... in fact he told poor hubby that he would talk to his lawyer before he would turn our water back on.

Sounds like a lovely night huh :)
But... I am trying to make the best of it... trying to not let the messy house, dirty dishes or my total hormonal state effect my night.... I'm trying.. with my teeth grinding... I'm trying.

So for baths tonight, I did what any other redneck would do :) I put all the kids and myself in the hot tub!!

Now if ONLY bedtime sleepiness would smack the kids, I would sit on my hippo bum and enjoy some ice cream.....all to myself!

**warning to all my friends..... please keep back at least 10 feet until further water notice. thanks and love you all!! ***

Let's Have FUN!!

Yesterday was one of those WONDERFULY-perfect days... The kids were even great!!

The day started with us hanging out with our Uncle Ted as we did some shopping in town. The boys got to be spoiled as they found some treasures at Good Will. They scored on some baseball gear. Our afternoon ended with a little ice cream treat down at Dubs. Since Uncle Ted isn't from here, he was a little more than shocked when our total only came out to $1.70 for 4 baby cones. I just think of it as mommy's happy meal!!

By the time we got home, I tried my hardest to enforce nap time... of course THAT didn't happen but I managed my way thru it. It wasnt until we headed back into town that my little monkey man finally fell asleep... in the car, no less.. you know, that one place where mommy can't sleep!

We headed into town that evening for a family picnic dinner brought to us by Burger Express. I was CRAVING some onion rings and let me tell you.. they were GUUUUUUUUUU-oooood! I don't even think I came up for air on those. I remember sticking my hand in, shoving my face with them and then the next thing... they were GONE! I better stop talking about them or else I will have to go all the way back into town for more.....but hmmmmm... suddenly doesn't sound like a bad idea ***thinking..... thinking****

Oh yes... family time... it was great... After they all ate and built up their energy again, they all played tag and wrestle mania with each other and daddy. I was hoping that it would have drained all their energy just in time for bed time... but I had no such luck! After I picked grass out of knees and collected all the running kiddos, we headed home.

The boys right away jumped out of the car and headed to the back yard to play some "baseball". It brought such a huge smile to my face to see them playing.... of course little Charlie Joe was just wandering around the backyard with the baseball helmet on. Hubby and I just sat there smiling at them all. Hubby made a comment that he looked like a character from spaceballs. LOL So true.. he was so cute.. of course after that comment I couldn't get the theme song from Star Wars out of my head. Check out how cute he is!!



















we finished off the night by relaxing and watching the sun go down in the hot tub.. ahhhhh. I am so glad we have one of those.


.... A few other things that happened that made me giggle.....
As we were heading to grab our dinner, I happened to look over at my daughter- who was by the way wearing a tank top... well I noticed something dark by her arm pit... when I looked closer I realized what I was looking at.
"DANG GIRL!!! You need to keep shaving that! Once you do it, you gotta keep at it"
the look on her face was priceless!!!! I didn't mean to embarrass her but GOOD GRAVY!! It looked like she was smuggling chewbacca under there!! She BEGGED me not to tell her dad- she thought he would just make fun of her... poor girl... of course HE wouldn't.... but this was just too funny NOT to blog! I remembered the day my mom "embarrassed" me at that age... but she did hers in PUBLIC. We were having dinner with family members at a seafood restaurant down south called Shells... I was laying on her lap while we were waiting for dinner and she looked down and checked out my armpits... she then in her-not-so-quiet voice, exclaimed that not only did I need to shave but also NEEDED to start wearing deodorant. Then... as to make matters worse, she decided to share how bad my BO was for a 10 year old.
Luckily for MY daughter, I did no such thing :) But the poor girl was mortified that I noticed her ...ummm... growth. Later that night when we got home, the first thing she did was shower. LOL

Of course she closed the night with another funny. I was sitting on the porch- relaxing... when she came stomping up the stairs and threw herself down in a chair next to me. When I asked her what was wrong... this is what she said.

" I am SO annoyed"
"with what?"
"with my voice.. its so annoying. I cant stand the way I hear"

{this is the moment I start giggling}

" I mean it mom... its so annoying. I don't like it, I wanna change it"

{now at this point I am just ROLLING.}

" It's not funny mom. seriously. I like my other voice"
" Your other voice?? you mean your high pitch whining voice?"

.. this is the moment where she just glared at me and if she could have thrown daggers at me, she could have.
..... I am still laughing at this point. As soon as I catch my breath I tell her that I love her and she is perfect in every way...

but she sure did give my belly a good workout!!! What a great day!


as far as today went...... I am gonna go ahead and plead the fifth on that one!

WARNING! She's gonna blow!

As I try to calmly sit here and count down to the safe zone, I wonder to myself if I am seriously the only mom that goes through what I do. Does any other mom yell at their kids for not listening, not doing their chores, for hitting each other, for jumping off furniture, for coloring on the walls, for spiting at each other, for breaking each other toys, for toddlers thinking they can scratch and pinch and hit their mommies???

I feel at this moment like one of those thermometers that gives you that blaring warning sign that says IT'S GONNA BLOW!! no, in fact, that doesn't even fully describe my emotions right now.

In theory or in someone elses practical- good mommy- ways, I am just so over reacting over the things that really have upset me today. Heck, you may even look at me right now and say "someone should have screened her before she had ANY kids..."

well, I hate to break it to you... I am human with LOTS of faults and a very sensitive emotional gauge.

I will try to spare you the details of my rather "groundhog" day, but it didn't start very well and it certainly did not END very well. In fact, I am still waiting for it to end.
Each one of my kids knows EXACTLY what to do to get me just rip-roaring MAD. I mean like "OFF WITH HIS HEAD" mad!!
For example... my sweet and -oh-so-hormonal-daughter offered to put my laundry away for either the reward of spending the night with her cousin or watching a movie with me. Heck ya!!! Good girl! well I walk in my room when she announces that it is all gone.

Ok -wait... let me PRE-warn you all. I am VERY picky (or anal) on how my things are set up. I have them the way they are for my own personal reasons.. Don't try to change it or you will see my head start twitching and my mouth will start foaming... ok- just a warning.
well i walk into my closet where she has shoved the baby bassinet in there, half of the clothes are on my bed and half my closet was taken apart and MOVED in odd places.

OK, so I calmly just took a breath thinking that she was just "trying to help" but then out of the corner of my eye I noticed SHOVED behind a stack of jeans was a basket full of cloths that she balled up and stuck behind other stuff.. WHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHAAAATTTTTTT??

ok that breathing technique flew right out my window and I do believe I mumbled some stuff to myself.
Her excuse..... " I didn't know where it went"

Ohh how I needed the chocolate fairy to come down and stuff some chocolate in my throat at that moment. I couldn't even think of what to say that made any sense. I think random words and letters just came out of my mouth.

Ok so I made her fix all that stuff and explained that if she didn't get something to let me know otherwise she is making MORE work for me to... and we all know how well that goes over for me.


Then our sweet little monstrous 2 year old decides to get his hands on whatever he can manage to get them on. So here I am trying to wobble my way across the room to catch him and clean up the destruction, but before I can grab my pudgy hands on him, he is onto the next section where he will devour the house... By this time, I admit I was yelling and screaming at anyone that was in ear shot of me.

I think my last nerve I had left, went to dear ol' Christopher, who decided to jump from couch to chair hitting people on the head.... like he was the fairy godmother from Lil' Bunny Foo-foo.

At that point my motherly horns came out, my head started twitching and yup, my mouth started foaming.

....... so now I am sitting here, sharing my faults and weakness to you and feeling like the biggest loser mom of them all. I so admire the moms that can deal with all my issues and keep a calm and collect voice and temper.

I am not the best at being a mom..... I don't spend my hours sitting on the floor playing games or reading books nor do I make it my mission to keep them occupied. I yell at them and at times I scream at them. But I do know that I love them with so much love but also show them that I love them and that they are important to me. I never put them down or belittle them. I do have expectations of them and I demand respect.

It kills my heart that these moments of weakness come... what seems every day, because I do love them so very much. It hurts my heart when I read blogs or posts about how wonderful a mom is having with her child(ren)......makes me wonder, what the heck am I doing wrong?!

I just want to do good... and let them know that I am only human and I am not perfect- nor do I except them to be perfect.... Honestly... I just want them to listen... the first time I speak.

Maybe tomorrow I will invest in a whistle and a blow horn. oh yes, and a box of milky ways to get through the day.

A Baby Update

Ok so we just got back from the doc...
let me tell ya... one sure way to get yourself STRESSED out is to bring 4 kids with you to an ultrasound- BY YOURSELF. Holy crap! My nerves are so shot right now!

Ok anywho... baby is looking good.. my cervix is still long so the contractions that I get to endure each day, are not doing anything- which is great news for this baby but really a pain in my butt for me! The baby is already a little over 2 pounds- great length- and the water level is just fine for him.
Yup- you read right.. HIM. Another boy. I have to laugh and think to myself that God knows what he is doing. I NEVER in my life did I picture myself with 4 boys. That is even hard to say!!

So now I can try to relax and not worry if this little one with come early and try to enjoy the rest of the pregnancy as much as I can. I guess its time for us to start plowing though all those boy name. I personally think coming up with boy names is so hard. They just don't sound cute. How the heck am I going to squeeze *gulp* 4 boys into one room??

hehehehe... wow.

Thank you for all your prayers and thoughts. I really appreciate it all!!

Birthday Boy!

So, early this month.. See, I told you I was working a little backwards, was my little man's birthday. He was turning that oh-so-rowdy- TWO. I personally think he had mastered the terrible two's WAY before this birthday came along.

I remember when we he born and I would sit around just gazing at him- smiling... in fact my SIL and I would make comments on how this little boy was going to be so calm and be the "easy" one of them all.... well fast forward a few months later and we were eating our words... and today I do believe I choke on them. He is SO not that calm little boy. This little one keeps up with the other ones with NO FEAR. I have seem him climb to the highest point on my couches, jump from everything he could possibly jump from and climb the highest bunk bed. I think he is determined to give me either gray hair or a heart attack before I reach 35!

For his birthday this year we decided that we as a family needed a break from our daily lives... so we loaded up the camper and headed out for a family camping trip. It really was enjoyable. We didnt plan anything special for him.... Please dont send me any rude comments on NOT doing a big who-ha over a birthday- we just played as a family while we were camping and when we got home, it was just the kids having a cupcake. Yes, I did buy the little one a birthday gift... an indoor slide, which at times is NOT a great idea. Between these 4 kids, they have thought of everything they could do on this slide.... it's a darn good thing its a little PLASTIC slide.
Here are a few images from our camping weekend and this FUNNY (kind of long) video of us singing happy birthday to the little man!

Here are some of the highlights that happened that weekend:

* RELAXATION

* SLEEP

*Played a family game of volleyball. Yes, even this whale of a momma got out and played. The kids thought it was very funny seeing me play. Little turkey's!!

* Christopher took off his training wheels on day one and MASTERED it within seconds. Very impressive

* Relaxed some more











Golly.. I just LOVE his smile.




The birthday video.
ugh. birthday video wont load.. will have to try again another time

Our Summer Bucket List

I am a little behind on my blogging. So lets see if we can play catch- up... BACKWARDS

Hubby just left this morning for a week long "trip" to NM and it got me thinking.... "oh crap! Summer Vacation is starting THIS week!" For me summer vacations time is just stressful. I like having my routine...early bed times....but I figured come September life is going to change and be a l i t t l e more hectic... so I decided to make a summer bucket list to do with the kids. Some items are free and are short little things to do or THEY can do ( the best part) and some things are half day and full day.. Full day stuff is mandatory outing that includes daddy (for mommy's sake!)

Here is the list of ideas we have :) When we are ready for an activity or "date", I will have a sweet child of mine pick out a color coded card and we will go off for that adventure... or I will send them on their marry way to do it outside!

Make a special lunch and surprise daddy at work with it

City Beach

Park Play Day

Family Movie Night

Family Game Night

Make homemade ice cream

Bike ride

Xbox game afternoon

Water piñatas

Make Rice krispy treats

Wash cars

Invite a friend over for an afternoon movie

Tie dye shirts

Paint pet rocks

Play with bubbles

Sandpoint fountain

Library story time

Ice cream sundae lunch

Make Rock candy

Have a monster dinner

Ice Cream Outing

CDA Park

KROC Center

Riverfront Park

Visit a candy store

Visit Krispy Kreme

Cat tails zoo

Kids museum Spokane

CHERRY FESTIVAL is JULY 16-17 green bluff farms Spokane

Strawberry Festival June 25-26

Triple play

Bowling

Boat ride

Worship concert at KROC center 7pm June 25